Le Petit Prince or Little Prince is a robotic greenhouse concept that is specially designed to help the future exploration and expanding population in the Mars. This intelligent robot can carry and take well care of a plant inside its glass container, which is functionally mounted on its four-legged pod. The robot is designed to learn the optimal process of searching for nutrients in order to keep the plant in a good condition. Moreover, it can send reports of its movements and developments to its fellow greenhouse robots through wireless communication, making it possible to learn from each other. Le Petit Prince is one of top 8 Electrolux Design Lab finalists, you can vote for Le Petit Prince here.

Martin interview with Electrolux :

What was the inspiration for your concept?
In my opinion, everything I have ever seen, read and heard is my inspiration. Every experience stays somewhere inside you, and if you are lucky, it will come out at the right moment. If I look back, this particular concept was definitely inspired by the book The Naked Sun from Isaac Asimov, the R2-D2 robot from Star Wars, an egg, insects, and whatever else I see every day.

How does your concept fit into this year’s competition theme “Designs for the next 90 years”?
Ninety years is very long time. Nearly four generations will pass through, every one of them with its own dreams, desires and possibilities. One long lasting dream is to reach the stars, but before that, we will have to reach Mars to see whether or not we can live without Earth. This is the time where my concept is relevant. At that time, we won’t think of machines as dumb boxes with buttons, but more as partners that obey our commands, but still have their own minds. They will be more autonomous and think and make decisions on their own. It may sound frightening, but it isn’t scarier than the first arrival of trains to the cities.

What are the main consumer benefits of your concept?
One thing you notice on Mars is the silence and serenity. That’s quite good for one week’s vacation in the countryside, but for modern people it’s very depressing to live in such a place for several months or years. Therefore, the main benefit of Le Petit Prince is that it’s not just a machine, but more like a pet or silent friend that you can speak to when you aren’t in the mood to talk to people. On top of that, it is a good gardener that grows any plant you want or need to bare life or just for its beauty.

Describe the consumer research behind your concept.
Well, I must admit it’s difficult to do any real research behind the concept since it’s designed for Mars. However, some of my friends said it’s cute (I always thought some of them have to be from Mars) and I consider their feedback sufficient.

What kind of materials would you use to build your concept?
Metallurgy, glass production and synthetic plastics have been used for a long time and will probably continue to be used in the next hundred years, so I didn’t feel an urge to use new yet unknown materials. Nanotechnology made giant leaps in the last few years and it will improve properties of material surfaces in the future, so they will be even harder and more resistant than anything we know today. More effective (even transparent) are solar panels, etc., but this evolution will not affect the fundamentals of my concept.

Read our news from your inbox:

About

Tuvie is a weblog dedicated to uncovering and sharing the best in concept and design from industrial, automotive and architectural design to concepts in technology and fashion. We feature cutting edge designs, innovative and futuristic, simple yet highly functional products, nothing but the best.

Subscribe For Latest Updates

Signup for our newsletter and read our articles from your inbox!
*We are updating our mailing list in line with new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will be effective on 25 May 2018. We use your personal data (name and e-mail address) exclusively for sending our newsletter on the activities of Tuvie. If you do not want to receive this information, please send an e-mail to thefuture@tuvie.com with the subject “unsubscribe”.